John plant



J. PLANT.

Hot Air Furnace.

' Patented Oct. 5, 1858.

PETERS. Pholo-Liihognphur. Washingwm u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PLANT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND GEO. H. PLANT, OF SAME PLACE.

FURNACE FOR HEATING BUILDINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,724, dated October 5, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN PLANT, of Washington city, District of Columbia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Furnaces for Heating Buildings, &c.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which.

Figure 1, represents a perspective view of the furnace. Fig. 2, represents a vertical section through the same. Fig. 3, represents a horizontal section through the furnace at the red line 00, m, of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4, represents a view from the underside of the interior cone of the furnace, looking upward to show the flue passages.

Similar letters of reference when they occur in the separate figures denote like parts of the furnace in all of them.

It may also be proper to here mention that, the brickwork or exterior shell or case 'which is to surround the furnace, and form the hot air chamber, is not represented in the drawings as they are well known, and may be of any of the ordinary forms, or plans of construction.

The nature of my invention consists in the manner in which I have arranged and combined the flue passages, with the fire box, for the purpose of causing the heater products of combustion to commingle, or to pass through different portions of the flue space, and thus uniformly heat the surrounding air in the air chamber, and as incidental to this arrangement, the greatly increasing of the radiating surface of the furnace.

It is a well known fact in all furnaces that the products of combustion will always take the shortest flue or passage leading from the fire pot to the exit, and that consequently where that shortest flue is, there will be the greatest heat. It is also common in furnaces to take the hot air that is to furnish one set of rooms from one portion of the hot air chamber, and that which is to supply other rooms, from other portions thereof, and one portion may furnish hot air, while in another portion it is quite cold. These currents of hot and cold air will exist in the same furnace, and unless artificially broken up, or changed, will produce the effect above statedthat is, an excess of heat in one place, and an excess of cold air in another part of the same chamber. In my furnace these evils are avoided and a uniform temperature maintained throughout the entire hot air chamber.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A, represents a cylinder furnished with a grate B, and fire box or pot of any suitable kind, the fuel being supplied through the passage O. Underneath the grate there is an ash pit D which is got at through the passage E; both of these passages O, and E, are of sufficient length to extend to the outside of the surrounding brickwork or case.

Over the fire box, and inside of the fur- Ilace there is an inverted cone F, which divides the ascending smoke, gases &c., and causes them to take the several flue passages G, G, G, &c. Fig. 4, which after extending horizontally a short distance lead into diving flues H, H, &c., Fig. 1. These divlng flues lead into a chamber I, below the furnace, by short horizontal flues J. Within this chamber I, there are radial partitions a, a &c., which direct all the smoke and gases to the center thereof by which they become thoroughly mixed the heated with the less heated currents, and passing across said center they take the ascending flues K, which carry them up, and again center them in the chamber L, above the cone, whence they pass to the exit pipe M.

Over the top of the furnace is a water chamber N, for supplying, through its small openings, moisture to the heated air in the chamber between the brickwork and furnace. Water is furnished to the reservoir through a pipe 6, from the outside.

O, is a pipe or way for cleaning out the chamber I, it extending also from the furnace, to the exterior and is furnished with a cover 0.

In starting a fire in a furnace after it has been out of use for a considerable time, and the fines and chimney cold, it is diflicult to start the draft, and thus start the furnace. To overcome this, I use a short pipe P, which leads from the exterior of the case or shell directly into the chamber L, and thence into the chimney. This pipe has a removable cover on it and is furnished with air holes, as seen in the drawing. By simply filling the pipe P, with paper or other light usual Ways, and the hot air of uniform temperature may be taken from any part of the chamber as the centering and com mingling, and changing the currents of smoke, heat, gas, &c., causes uniform radiation throughout the Whole series of fiues,

The fiues, or flue pipes, may be extended out into the air heating chamber, to any de The air that is to supply the hot air chamber, can be furnished in any ofthe sirable extent, so that the entire heat of the furnace may be radiated into the air chamber.

Having thus fully described the nature and Object of my invention What I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The centering and mixing of all the heated products of combustion both below, and above the fire cylinder, by an arrangement of diving and ascending fiues leading into common chambers, Where they cross each other, and are forced to commingle substantially as herein described and represented.

JOHN PLANT.

Witnesses:

A. B. SroUcHToN, GEORGE H. HUNT. 

